Troy Clark v. Rick Thaler, Director

OWEN, Circuit Judge:

Troy Clark, convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in Texas state court, appeals the denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Clark asserts that his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to investigate and develop mitigating facts that could have been presented at the punishment stage of his trial. The district court determined that Clark was not entitled to relief on this claim but granted a certificate of appealability (COA). Because the state court did not unreasonably apply clearly established federal law on the record before…